Tar Heels Travel To NC State

Jan. 13, 2005

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Tip-off
Coming off a 92-77 loss at Maryland Sunday in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener, the University of North Carolina women's basketball team travels to Raleigh Friday evening to take on NC State. Tipoff at Reynolds Coliseum is 8:30 p.m.
The Tar Heels are 12-2 on the season and still looking for their first ACC win at 0-1. NC State is 12-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference following a 78-65 loss at Clemson on Sunday.
Carolina is tied for ninth in this week's Associated Press poll and is ranked No. 8 in the coaches' poll. NC State is not ranked but is receiving votes in both polls.

Up next
Next up for UNC is the team's first home ACC game of the season. The Tar Heels will host new conference member Miami on Monday at 2 p.m. in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matchup. The game will be televised live by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South Net, Comcast and Sunshine Network).

On the air
The game between UNC and NC State will be televised by the Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South Net, Comcast and Sunshine Network). Beth Mowins will provide the play-by-play and Dan Bonner will add color commentary.
Friday's game also will air on the Tar Heel Radio Network, which includes 12 stations. WCHL-AM 1360 in Chapel Hill is the flagship. Jones Angell is the Tar Heels' play-by-play announcer and Adam Pohl is the color commentator.
Live stats are available on the UNC website, www.TarHeelBlue.com.

UNC at a glance
2004-05 record 12-2 (0-1 ACC)
Current rankings Tied for 9th A.P., 8th ESPN/USA Today
Head coach Sylvia Hatchell
Career record 666-264 (30th season)
Record at UNC 394-184 (19th season)
Assistant head coach Andrew Calder
Assistant coaches Tracey Williams, Charlotte Smith-Taylor
Media contact Dana Gelin
Gelin's phone/email (919) 962-0083/dgelin@uncaa.unc.edu
UNC athletics website www.TarHeelBlue.com

Briefly ...

Friday's game is the 77th meeting between UNC and NC State. Carolina has faced the Wolfpack more often than any other ACC team. NC State leads the series 48-28, but UNC has won six of the last seven.

The Tar Heels have won the last three matchups in Raleigh to make up the longest UNC road winning streak in the history of the series. Carolina's average margin of victory in those games has been 4.3 points.

In support of NC State coach Kay Yow's fight against breast cancer, the Tar Heel players will wear pink ribbons on their uniform shorts during Friday's game.

The last time UNC started the ACC schedule 0-1 was in the 1992-93 season, when the Tar Heels opened league play with a 73-63 loss at Georgia Tech. That year, Carolina lost its first two ACC games and finished its conference slate 11-5.

Senior Nikita Bell heads into Friday's game just 14 points away from the 1,000 career points mark. She'll be the only player on this year's team to have reached that landmark, but senior Leah Metcalf is 94 points away.

Carolina's top three scorers are a freshman (Erlana Larkins) and two sophomores (Ivory Latta, Camille Little). Between them, they account for 52 percent of the team's points.

For the first time in school history, UNC beat two ranked teams in the month of November. The Tar Heels won games against No. 4 Connecticut (Nov. 21) and Nov. 24 Villanova (Nov. 27). Following the loss to Maryland, UNC is 2-1 this season against ranked teams.

The Tar Heels' win over No. 4 Connecticut was the program's first against a top-five team since UNC beat the Huskies in the 1994 East Region final to advance to the Final Four. UConn was ranked No. 4.

At the conference media day in October, North Carolina was picked as the preseason favorite to win this year's ACC title. The Tar Heels received 20 of 40 votes, two more than defending champion Duke. Ivory Latta and Camille Little were named to the Preseason All-ACC team.

UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June. She is in her 30th season as a head coach.

Noting the numbers

UNC is 10-0 this season when outrebounding opponents. Seven of those games have been at home and three have been at neutral sites, The Tar Heels have been outrebounded in all three of their road games, a win at UNLV (38-33), a loss at Penn State (33-32) and a loss at Maryland (49-35).

Just two teams, Penn State and Maryland, have shot .500 or better against the Tar Heels this season. PSU shot .500 (29-58) in beating UNC 77-71. Maryland shot .527 (29-55) in beating UNC 92-77.

Ivory Latta hit double figures in assists two games in a row with 13 against Georgia State and 10 against Lipscomb. Prior to the Georgia State game on Dec. 19, her career high for assists was seven. Over the last five games, she is averaging 7.5 assists.

Freshman forward Erlana Larkins is the only UNC player to have scored in double figures in every game this season. Her career low is 10 points, against UT-Martin on Dec. 2.

UNC is the top scoring team in the ACC, averaging 81.9 points per game. The Tar Heels also lead the league in three-point percentage defense (.238 by opponents), steals (14.7 per game), turnover margin (+8.50) and assist-turnover ratio (1.17).

Individually, Tar Heels lead the ACC in field goal percentage (Erlana Larkins, .653), free throw percentage (Ivory Latta, .906) and assist-turnover ratio (Leah Metcalf, 2.24). Larkins is second to Latta in free throw percentage (.864, 57-66).

UNC's statistical leaders
Scoring: Ivory Latta, 15.4
Field goal percentage: LaToya Pringle, .706 (24-34)
Three-point percentage: Camille Little, .455 (10-22)
Free throw percentage: Ivory Latta, .906 (29-32)
Rebounding: La'Tangela Atkinson, 7.6 per game
Assists: Ivory Latta, 5.1 per game
Steals: Camille Little, 2.6 per game
Blocks: LaToya Pringle, 1.9 per game
Minutes: Ivory Latta, 30.8 per game

UNC in the NCAA statistics
Through games of Jan. 10
Individual
Erlana Larkins: 5th, field goal percentage (.653)
Ivory Latta: 30th, three-point percentage (.416)
Team
Scoring: 4th (81.9)
Scoring defense: 26th (53.6)
Scoring margin: 3rd (28.3)
Field goal percentage: 22nd (45.9)
Rebounding margin: 18th (8.1)
Win-loss percentage: 16th (.857)
Assists: 9th (19.2)
Steals: 2nd (14.7)

The UNC-NC State series
UNC and NC State will meet Friday for the 77th time. NC State leads the series 48-28 but the Tar Heels have won six of the last seven games.
Last season, the teams split in the regular season, with each team winning on the other's home court. Carolina won 58-57 on Jan. 8 in Raleigh and the Wolfpack won 62-54 on Feb. 8 in Chapel Hill. The teams met a third time in the ACC Tournament semifinals, when UNC won 75-64.

The Tar Heels have won the last three matchups in Raleigh to make up the longest UNC road winning streak in the history of the series. Prior to UNC's 80-71 win in the 2001-02 season, the Wolfpack had won seven in a row against Carolina on their home court.
Last season, Carolina won 58-57 on a shot by La'Tangela Atkinson with 3.6 seconds to play. UNC won 66-63 in 2003 as Leah Metcalf stole a pass and converted a three-point play with 57.2 seconds on the clock. Over the last three years, the Tar Heels average margin of victory in Raleigh is 4.3 points.

Scouting the Wolfpack
NC State is 12-3 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC following a 78-65 loss at Clemson last Sunday. The defeate followed the Wolfpack's biggest win of the season, a 65-64 victory at No. 12 Vanderbilt on Jan. 6.
Junior forward Tiffany Stansbury leads the team in scoring with 11.1 points per game. Also in double figures is sophomore guard Ashley Key with 10.1 points per game. Stansbury is the squad's top rebounder with 7.4 per game.

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Players Mentioned

Nikita Bell

Erlana Larkins

Ivory Latta

Camille Little

Leah Metcalf

LaToya Pringle

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